This invention relates to a fuse-receiving structure and to an electrical junction box having such a fuse-receiving structure, such as a junction box, a fuse box or the like that is mounted on a motor vehicle, and more particularly relates to a fuse-receiving structure useful in an electrical junction box that can contain fuses having different sizes in height.
Many fuses are accommodated in an electrical junction box to be mounted on a motor vehicle. Each fuse typically comprises a fuse element including an input terminal, an output terminal spaced from the input terminal in the longitudinal direction of the fuse, a fusible portion disposed between the input and output terminals, and an insulation resin fuse body embedding the fuse element therein. The input and output terminals project from lower surfaces of the fuse body at the longitudinal ends thereof.
Recently, a so-called low height fuse has been provided in order to reduce the size of fuses. The low height fuse has input and output terminals that do not project from the lower-most surface of the fuse body but project from opposite ends of a central portion of the T-shaped fuse body, so that the terminals are disposed in parallel and hardly extend below the fuse body, thereby reducing the vertical size of the fuse.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. JP-A-2002-313212 discloses a fuse-receiving housing that accommodates such a low height fuse. This structure is illustrated in FIG. 4. A fuse-receiving housing 1 includes press contact tabs 4 that project into a cavity 3 enclosed by peripheral side walls 2. Each of the press contact tabs 4 is formed by bending a bus bar of an internal circuit. A low height fuse 8 includes a fuse body 5, an input terminal 6 and an output terminal 7 that extend at the opposite ends of the central portion of fuse body 5. The low height fuse 8 is inserted into the cavity 3 so that the press contact tabs 4, which have narrow-mouthed slots, are pressed onto the input and output terminals 6 and 7.
However, although the fuse-receiving housing disclosed in JP-A-2002-313212 can accommodate the low height fuse, it cannot accommodate a standard fuse (known as mini-fuse) that has been generally used and has input and output terminals projecting from a lower surface of a fuse body. That is, a fuse engagement section provided on a fuse-receiving housing engages a fuse body to locate and hold a fuse. However, because the input and output terminals are attached to different positions on the fuse bodies of the low height fuse and the mini-fuse, it is impossible to use the same fuse-receiving housing for both fuses.
The low height fuse has not been used widely but is expected to be widely used in the future in accordance with the desired application of fuses. It will take a very high cost to prepare electrical junction boxes including different fuse-receiving housings for the low height fuse and the mini-fuse. Accordingly, it has been required to provide a separate fuse-receiving housing that can accommodate the low height fuse and mini-fuse selectively.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. JP-A-2002-124175 discloses a fuse-receiving structure compatible with both a mini-fuse and a low-height fuse. A cavity contains tabs to contact the fuse terminals. To limit the depth of insertion of the low height fuse, the structure has a stop member projecting upwardly between the tabs, to engage the lower end of the central portion of the low height fuse.